Solar

By storing solar energy in molten salt, BrightSource Energy can now build one less solar power plant.

The company said today that it is adding energy storage to three planned solar projects that will supply power to utility Southern California Edison.

Instead of building seven power plants to provide about 4 million megawatt-hours per year, BrightSource now expects to be able to meet that with six concentrating solar plants to be built over the next six years, including three that will have storage. It is now constructing its first project, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which will not have … Read more

SolarStrong, a project to install rooftop solar panels at 120,000 military homes, will see the light of day after nearly being derailed by political infighting in Washington.

Solar installer SolarCity today said it has secured the financing needed to install about 300 megawatts' worth of solar panels at homes on military bases. The company and the project lender, Bank of America's Merrill Lynch, expect this to be the largest distributed solar-energy project to date, requiring $1 billion in financing over the next five years.

The project calls for installing solar panels at the homes of military personnel at … Read more

Morgan Solar has brought on Canadian oil and gas distributor Enbridge as an investor to commercialize its concentrating-photovoltaic panels.

The Toronto-based company today said that Enbridge has invested $9.8 million as part of a $28.8 million round of funding.

Enbridge's primary business is oil and gas distribution but it has invested in a few solar energy projects that use traditional flat photovoltaic panels. Morgan Solar is the first solar technology it has invested in.

The money will be used to expand manufacturing capacity of Morgan Solar's concentrating-photovoltaic modules and trackers.

The company's core technology is … Read more

ALAMOSA, Colo.--The San Luis Valley in southern Colorado is an ideal location for capturing solar energy. But like so many communities, people of this mountain basin will only embrace a future of renewable energy if it fits comfortable with its past.

One of six counties in this high-desert valley surrounded by majestic mountains, Alamosa officials are eager to develop solar for much-needed revenue and to diversify the economy. The county welcomed a group of journalists earlier this month as part of a fellowship organized by the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources.

Even with a fabulous solar resource with … Read more

news analysis Google yesterday pulled the plug on an ambitious green-technology initiative, a casualty of the Internet giant's strategy to shed peripheral projects.

In a company blog, Google's senior vice president of operations and Google Fellow Urs Holzle listed "Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal" as one of seven projects that were being shut down because they didn't catch on as hoped.

Google had a team of engineers working on a sun-tracking mirror, or heliostat, that would be cheaper to manufacture and use less water than conventional concentrating solar products. Yesterday, the team published a number of technical recommendations … Read more

At a conference this week in San Francisco, executives from the clean-tech industry got together to talk about the state of the photovoltaic market in the United States and what they expect in the future.

The good news? The U.S. isn't Spain. The executives said the market's explosive growth in Spain in recent years was like a huge party, but then came the hangover. In the U.S., they're expecting measured growth, something much more sustainable. Check out more from the panel at the the Greentech Media U.S. Solar Market Insight conference.

This video first … Read more

Steven Chu defended today his decision to approve a large loan guarantee to now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra as Republican investigators pressed the energy secretary on whether politics played any role.

Chu appeared today before the Republican-led House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations to explain his role in Solyndra, the failed solar company that received a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.

Republicans Cliff Stearns and Joe Barton implied that decisions regarding Solyndra's loans were done as political favors to Obama supporters. They also stated that a loan restructuring earlier this year was illegal because it put … Read more

NAVAJO RESERVATION, N.M.--Power transmission lines run a few hundred yards behind the Johnson family home here, but it took an off-grid solar and wind generator to finally bring them electricity service.

The Johnsons, who live on a remote stretch of land on the Navajo Reservation west of Farmington, N.M., are among about 200 families on the Navajo Reservation who rent an off-grid renewable-energy system from the rural utility. They opened their home to visitors last week during a fellowship organized by Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources.

The hybrid power generator, which was installed in February, combines … Read more

Talk about walking the walk when it comes to solar energy.

Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) manufacturer Amonix has built a factory and office space that uses solar panels as the sole power source, the company announced Wednesday.

The 214,000 square-foot facility uses eight of the company's MegaModule CPV solar systems, to serve the entire power need for the production plant and some connected office space. The system supplies "100 percent of the North Las Vegas facility's energy needs," according to Amonix.

Of course, it should be noted that this plant is located in Nevada, an area … Read more